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| The new reality: Arabs and Jews (UWI) |
The conventional wisdom of all previous administration was to buy into the argument that there could be no peace between Israel and any of her Arab neighbors until the Palestinians problem was solved. Which in the mind of the so-called experts with decades of experience said required a 2-state solution that would cede all of land captured by Israel during the six day war – usually referred to as the West Bank.
The most optimistic plan according to those experts was that Israel would be able to annex cities just over their pre 67 borders (the green line) in exchange for land swaps in uninhabited areas within the green line. And that Jerusalem would be divided between Israel (West Jerusalem) and the Palestinians (East Jerusalem – the old city). So that each could call Jerusalem its capital.
That was a deal that was pretty much agreed upon between then Israeli Prime Minster Ehud Barak and PLO leader Yasser Arafat. (Ultimately those negotiations broke down over another detail.)
As a seeker of peace that would save many lives, I actually supported that deal. Not because I didn’t think all of Jerusalem belongs in Jewish hands. Of course I believe it does. But because I believed that the Jewish lives that would be save by finally making peace was worth the price. Since we are not yet in the messianic era, I believe that I was on solid Halachic grounds. I believe that many rabbinic leaders supported that deal in pursuit of Pikuach Nefesh.
I am equally sure that many rabbinic leaders did not. Including my own Rebbe, Rav Ahron Soloviechick who felt that the Pikuach Nefseh argument worked the other way. That Jews would be safer if we did not give any land to our enemies.
It turns out that my Rebbe was right. The true believers among Arabs hate us so much that they are willing to martyr themselves killing Jews. The radical leaders among the Palestinians (Hamas) are much stronger that the ‘moderate’ and though they both hate us with equal intensity, the radicals are the ones that martyr themselves for the cause. For which their suriving familes are handsomely rewarded by the ‘moderate’ leadership. The radicals would surely take control of the West Bank if Israel ever gave it up. Just like they did in Gaza.
But I digress. I mention all of this because until Trump came along, this was the conventional wisdom. Israel must give up land for peace including Jerusalem and any stop construction activity in any West Bank town – even in border towns on the West Bank. Settlements were consdiered an impediment to peace. Beitar which is one of the most Charedi towns in Israel couldn’t even add a bathroom to an existing structure without upsetting the ‘experts’ in every administration – whether Democrat or Republican.
Along came Trump. Who put together a team of novices (3 of which were observant Jews) with no experience in this area. Together with Prime Minister Netanyahu and spurred on by Israel and her Arab neighbor's common enemy, Iran, came up with a plan that has actually borne some fruit. A plan intended to disabuse the world of the notion that the settlements issue was the sole impediment to peace. It was not. It was rather the intransigent leadership of Palestinians that was. They maintained unreasonable demands upon Israel and used their own people as pawns. Keeping them in poverty so they could gain world sympathy and blame it on ‘the Jews’.
That worked until the Trump team of novices and amateurs took over. During the Trump administration the term ‘settlements’ practically disappeared from public discourse. The US embassy was relocated to Jerusalem – which was recognized by the US as Israel’s capital. people born in Jerusalem can now say they were born in Israel.
The Golan Heights that was long ago annexed by Israel was finally recognized by the US as well. Four Arab nations have normalized relations with Israel. And the Palestinian ploy that tricked the world into blaming the ‘occupation’ on Palestinian poverty was put to rest, too. The US offer to flood Palestinians with money and economic development if they would drop their unreasonable demands and make peace with Israel.
The other policy shift by Trump was canceling a terrible nuclear deal with Iran and restoring the crushing sanctions. Since the revolution in 1979, Iran has never been in worse shape. They now have nothing but impoverishment to show their people. That is what their spread of terrorism and belligerent attitude towards the US, Israel, or their disdain for Western culture has gotten them so far. What about their nuclear ambitions? They have broken their end of the deal despite the compliance for all their European partners and are going full steam ahead. Meanwhile Israel and the US (under Trump) has slowed down their nuclear development with a series of raids and assassinations of key Iranian nuclear scientists and military generals.
None of this is new. The naysayers that refuse to give Trump credit for anything spin all of this as no accomplishment at all. Or worse harmful to the US, Israel, and world peace. To the extent that there is even the slightest advance in the peace process, the naysayers do not give those ‘amateurs’ any credit. Instead citing mostly external reasons.
I am happy to report, that a former Middle East expert who spent many years in both Democratic and Republican administrations trying to make peace between Israel and the Arabs actually does not agree with the naysayers. The naysayers should take heed. Because he is one of those experts that they tried to compare Trump’s team with. His name is Dennis Ross:
A former top official in the Obama administration who also headed Middle East peace talks says President Joe Biden should keep two key aspects of President Donald Trump’s Middle East foreign policy.
In an op-ed published Wednesday by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Dennis Ross said Trump’s brokering of peace between Israel and Arab states worked and Biden should keep it going, while Trump’s pressure on Iran “created leverage that should not be discounted.”
It is well worth reading that article in its entirety. My hope is that the common sense and honesty expressed by a man acknowledged to be one of the foremost experts on this subject, and trusted on both sides of the political aisle - becomes the new conventional wisdom. If it does, then the entire world will be better off.